What to replace AirPort Extreme with?

[westtra]

So had a openreach modem and air port Extreme for a while now and the extreme is starting to get a bit temperamental

Looking for recommendations on a different router with some decent qos so I can prioritise stuff connected to it.

Have been looking and not sure if I will ditch the standalone modem at the same time but finding modem/routers with more than 4 ethernet ports is expensive.

[westtra]

Already have a switch to expand the available ports on the express but with the airport express getting flakey and requiring regular reboot to connect to the net or even connect to it I am looking to replace it.

So looking for either recommendations for a straight swap to a different router i.e. Asus ac88u or netgear x8 or x10 which will get rid of the need for the switch or the other option of an all in one modem/router with >4 ports and combine 3 boxes in one.

[westtra]

Anyone got any recommendations ?

[westtra]

The bt hh5 is the whole reason i went down the openreach modem/airport extreme route. The router signal was crap and it dropped the BB connection so often my speed dropped beliw infinity 1 speeds where i am now constant around 66/67 MB/s. So wont be going back to bt's offering.

Running multiple devices that needed open nat for gaming was a nightmare as well and another reason i got rid of it.

[westtra]

As good as the ubiquiti equipment looks its a bit ott for our needs looking at it.

[westtra]

I like the look of the dratek but a couple orreviews about slow wifi at times puts me off

[westtra]

So if I get this right as looking at the ubiquiti kit in more detail.

I would go

openreach modem -----> Unifi security gateway ----> UniFi Switch 8 -----> UniFi AP AC Pro + UniFi Cloud Key + other items I have on my switch at the moment.



With this set up I would still need 3 x sockets so there goes the reducing clutter.
UniFi Switch 8 could get away with only the 4 POE switch? as it's £100 ish cheaper. And would only need to power the key & AP.
Do you need the cloud key for access from home only? As I can't see much times when I would need to control/access the set up when I am not at home.

[westtra]

weeboot said:

You could do that, if you want to...
The APs come with their own PoE injector, so a PoE switch isn't 100% necessary.
My setup is simple netgear switches, 2 downstairs, one in the study, with the unifi APs hung off the back of those. The controller is running on my server.

Do the POE injectors need a power supply? As I am looking to de clutter the area all our network stuff sits.

at the moment in the server cabinet(cupboard) there is theopenreach modem, airport, 8 port switch, hive hub, sonos hub. I was initially looking to see if there is anything simpler where I could get rid of the openreach, airport and switch to combine them.
Worst case I was for clutter looking at keeping openreach and buying a separate router but have started looking at the ubiquiti stuff now and it looks good.

Essentially what I want is a future proof is network as we already have 12+ items on the home network at the moment(as much on wired as I can get with hopefully more soon) and with 2 kids getting to the age where they want tv's, xboxes etc. I want to have something that can handle all that but give me quality of service control(so I can steal all the bandwidth).

Zod said:

If it's just the wifi element of the Airport Extreme that is temperamental, turn off its wifi and add a couple (or more if your house is big) of Google Wifi APs. I did that recently and it has transformed our wifi. We get a full 75Mbps everywhere in the house with no weak spots anywhere. If the Airport is temperamential more generally, still get Google Wifi, but add a simple router without wifi.

Unfortunately its the whole thing as wired to tv and couple other things require a power cycle to get it working again.

[westtra]

weeboot said:

The injectors do need their own supply, but you can deliver that close to the AP rather than in the server cupboard.
I've ditched my sonos bridge having moved to a much better wireless solution and have no issues.
I suspect that you may struggle to find a combined router/switch with sufficient ports to cover off what you need.

It's only one access point and at the moment with a simple cable rund so just as well POE if I go down the ubiquiti route.

For combined router/vdsl modem the only ones I can find are the draytek 2860 or the netgear x8 d8500 with the x8 comming in pricier than I can get the ubiquiti kit.

Edited by westtra on Friday 28th July 11:33

[westtra]

dmsims said:

You missed the link ?

http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php?topic=14436.0

No saw the link but but never mentioned the tp link archer or billion as in hindsight need 6 or more ports in the back of the router for future proofing. Should have mentioned that further up.

[westtra]

dmsims said:

Just connect a cheap(ish) Gigabit switch to one of the ports on the router?

Already doing that but was looking to declutter by going all in 1 instead of modem - wireless router - couple switches.

[westtra]

dmsims said:

Understand where you are coming from but you could get it down to 1 switch

I have a 24 port HP 2510 (fanless, the fan ones are jet aircraft noisy!) - cheap as chips on ebay

OK so the ports are 100Mb but there are 2 trunks at 1Gb (for the router connection)

The router is on it's way out so will cover the extra ports when I get that and also a modem in it if I go the all in one route(limited) and it's just that in typical pistonheads style something shiny, new and fancy has been shown to me and I am now interested in that.

[westtra]

Ok so after reading and listening to everyone above I have got it down too 2 choices for future proofing. changing the set up.

Simple option as i work away from home and have a wife that is a technophobe

http://www.netgear.co.uk/home/products/networking/... fast has the required connections I want and is plug/play and only one interface that i can hopefully talk her through.

Not simple option for the wife if it goes wrong

Ubiquity unifi

Ubiquiti UniFi Security Gateway (USG)
Ubiquiti UniFi Controller Hybrid Cloud Key
Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 8 Port - US-8-60W
Ubiquiti UniFi AP AC Pro Indoor / Outdoor Access Point


From a price point there is a £5 difference.

So opening it up the masses which one should I go for?

[westtra]

Currently fttc and running high 60's.

A cheap switch and ap doesn't give me the control I want.

[westtra]

For house/bits of garden I want covered would need a range from router of 40m but through walls. The extreme gets coverage to all rooms in house(located in center) just and only on patio if windows/door open.

[westtra]

I know how pistonheads likes to have a thread closed.

Ended up not buying one of the 2 short listed options above. Ended up buying a asus dsl-ac88u.

Took no time to set up and has given me extra couple meg on a speed test and dropped my ping from 40 to 25 on speed tests.

If anyone wants more info feel free to ask.

[westtra]

Does that cover dsl versions? As all the non asus firmware i can find only covers routers.

Edited by westtra on Monday 7th August 13:11

[westtra]

Those are for the rt versions and have no mention of supporting the dsl-ac88u.